for her.
“No.” Kyle edged away.
“Not even for me?” Sasha said, stroking his arm.
“Is this a joke?” Kyle looked at Sasha, and Julian felt his heart pound. The only way his trick worked was if Kyle didn’t agree. The last thing Julian wanted was Kyle to prove that he liked Sasha enough to play Russian Roulette for her.
“It’s no joke, dude.” Julian bore down. “Make a decision.”
Kyle brushed Sasha’s hand away, getting to his feet. “I’m out of here. You guys are nuts.”
“Pussy.” Julian hid his happiness. His gamble had paid off. He had fought and won.
“You don’t like me, Kyle?” Sasha pouted prettily. “I thought you did.”
Kyle frowned. “It’s not that, it’s that I can’t decide right now, on the spot—”
“Bullshit.” Julian withdrew the gun. “I’ll tell you what, Columbus. I’m calling your bluff. I’ll let you think about it overnight. We get back together tomorrow night, all of us.”
“I’ll bring vodka,” Sasha added.
“Right, you bring vodka,” Julian repeated. “Kyle, we meet here nine o’clock tomorrow night.”
Kyle shook his head. “Go to hell.”
Sasha pouted. “Kyle, don’t go!”
Julian rose. “Tomorrow night at nine o’clock. If you’re here, you’ll do it. If you won’t do it, don’t come.”
Kyle edged away, then broke into a jog up the hill, disappearing into the darkness.
Sasha turned to Julian, angry. “Julian, you took it too far. What if he did it?”
“I knew he wouldn’t. Anyway, look.” Julian opened his hand, revealing a single bullet sitting in his palm, its brass casing glinting darkly in the twilight. “I palmed it. I didn’t really load the gun. Still, it shows you he’s a pussy.”
“Oh my God!” David clapped his hands together. “Dude, you had me going! I was totally fooled!”
“Me, too!” Allie burst into nervous laughter. “That was so scary! I believed you!”
Sasha wasn’t laughing. “You did that to scare him off.”
Julian wasn’t about to deny it. “And he got scared off, didn’t he?”
“You don’t know that yet.” Sasha jumped to her feet, brushing off her dress. “He could still come tomorrow night.”
“I doubt that.”
“I don’t.” Sasha picked up her tote bag and yanked the blanket away angrily, unsettling them. “Tomorrow night at nine, we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay, we’ll see, Sasha.”
Sasha turned, hurrying up the hill into the darkness.
“Dude.” David looked over at Julian. “What if he comes back tomorrow night?”
“He won’t.” Julian gave David the bullet. “Put this back in the box and bury it. I’ll bury the gun the way it was. If he comes back, we’ll tell him we buried it loaded with a bullet.”
“Okay.” David took the bullet and dropped it in the box. “You going to be here tomorrow night?”
“Yes, and so are you.” Julian wrapped the gun in the newspaper. “Let’s bury this thing. It’s getting dark.”
David went over to the empty hole, dropped the bullet box inside, and covered it with dirt.
Allie shook her head. “I don’t think we should come back tomorrow night.”
Julian buried the gun. “Then don’t.”
CHAPTER 31
Allie Garvey
Dad, where’s Mom?” Allie asked, entering the kitchen. She felt raw and achy from the vodka last night, having her first hangover. Her head hurt, and her stomach felt queasy. She didn’t understand where her mother was because her parents’ bedroom was empty.
“Come, sit down. I was waiting for you to get up.” Her father sat hunched over at the kitchen table next to a cup of black coffee and the thick roll of the Sunday newspaper, still in its plastic cover. He would normally have read it from front to back by now. He was unusually dressed up on a Sunday morning, even for him, in his pressed white shirt and khaki pants.
“But where is she?” Allie didn’t want to sit down. She didn’t like the look on his face. He looked very grave, like he used to with Jill when something was really wrong. His forehead wrinkled, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
“Mom’s in the hospital. I was about to go visit her. I’ll be gone most of the day and evening.”
“She stayed overnight? Why?” Allie had so many questions she didn’t know where to start. She tried not to get upset because that was the last thing her father needed. She’d learned that from the years with Jill. Allie was supposed to not ask questions, not talk back, not act out, and not be. Just not. Her parents would say, Allie, could you just not? But this was too much.
“She’s in the psychiatric wing at Bryn Mawr Hospital.”
“Dad, you mean, she’s in, like, a mental hospital?”